A Chinese speedboat on Monday prevented a Vietnamese fishing boat from docking at a reef of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea for repair, a fisherman has reported from the scene. Duong Minh Thanh, a fisherman from An Hai Commune, Ly Son Island District, in the central province of Quang Ngai, who owns a fishing boat operating off Truong Sa, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper about this case on Tuesday. On April 4, a fishing boat owned by Nguyen Thanh Chau, a fellow of Thanh, was operating with 16 crew members on board off Truong Sa when the vessel’s engine broke down, Thanh said.  While Chau was trying to dock his ship at Gaven Reef, a part of Truong Sa, for repair, a speedboat carrying a group of Chinese appeared and drove his ship away. As a result, all Chau could do was let his ship drift at sea, Thanh said. 

Chau failed to contact the mainland, so his crew asked Thanh, whose boat was operating nearby, for help, the fisherman added. Nguyen Quoc Chinh, chairman of the An Hai Commune Fishing Union in Ly Son, said he has received the information that Chau’s broken-down ship was chased away from Truong Sa. Chinh said he has called on other local fishing boats that operate in the waters to support Chau’s ship. These boats have been trying to get in contact with the ship in distress, Chinh added.

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